China




Political Information:

Current Goverment: Communism with Capitalist ecomonics

Current Leader: Hu Jintao

Type of goverment: Communism with capitalist Economics

Legal System: Based on a civil law system

Suffrage age: 18




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Social information:
Population: 1,338,612,968

Life Expectancy; 73.47 years

HIV/AIDS rate: .1%

Literacy Rate: 90.9%

Languages: Mandarin,Yue,Wu,Minbei,Minnian,Xiang,Gan,Hakka

Ethnic Groups: Han Chinese,Zhuang,Manchu,Hui,Miao,Uyghar,Tujia,Yi,Mongol,Tibetan,Buyi,Dong,Yao,Korean


Religious Groups:
Daoist,Buddhist,Christian,Muslim




Economic Information:
Currency and Exchange Rate: Renminbui yuan per U.S. dollar- 6.8249

Poverty rate: 2.8%

Major Industries: Mining and Ore proscessing,Iron steel,Aluminum.Coal

Major Imports and Exports: Electricity,Oil,Natural Gas,Commodities

Natural Resources:Coal,Iron ore,Petroleum,natural gas,mercury,tin,antimony,manganese,molybdenum,magnetite,aluminum,lead,zinc,uranium


GDP per capita: 6,500





History:







external image ChinaFlag.gif

Current Events & Issues:

In January China’s oil demands have gone up 28% since last year. The IEA has increased its global oil demand forecast for 2010 1.8%, that’s 8.6 million barrels a day. The price of oil in China has become $83 a barrel and the IEA stated the high prices were a result of heightened geopolitical tensions affecting oil producing countries. However the IEA also claimed that this is being balanced by the amount of oil physically.

I don’t think this is anything to worry about. The oil price in China dropped from $83 a barrel to $80 of the afternoon the $83 price was announced. Plus producing countries have been pumping out an estimated 115,000 extra barrels of oil a day. This should cause the price per barrel to eventually drop
.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8563985.stm



In China three Japanese men were executed for smuggling methamphetamine into the country. One of the men came to China in 2003 with 5kg of the drug, then arranged for two more men to come into the country with more of the narcotic at two airports in Liaoning. Both men were arrested and the first man was caught later. All three men were executed on April 9, 2010. This has caused some tension between China and Japan.

While I don’t condone the selling or use of illegal narcotics, the death penalty may have been a little harsh. I can see why China is taking a strong stand against drugs, but the death sentence in my opinion is way to extreme of a punishment. And it could cause a rift between the two nations.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8610718.stm






Reference:

[1]
[2]
  1. ^ http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/files/images/ChinaFlag.gif
  2. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8587032.stm